Quoting Quiverfull: Addicted To Peer Interaction?

As many of you know, the Lord has granted me the privilege to encourage asmall, but growing number of saints in India to homeschool their children. (My family will be going with me for an extended time of ministry there from December through February.) One father who has just begun homeschooling his daughter wrote me this week with an interesting concern. He subsequently gave me permission to share his note and my response. He wrote:

> We noticed that she doesn’t like to play with the other kids > as much now and prefers to play alone. Any idea what could be happening?

That’s GREAT! I often hear from new homeschoolers that their children are preferring to play with the parents, siblings, and alone, soon after beginning homeschooling.

In my opinion, that’s part of the goal. Congratulations! She was becoming addicted to interaction with her peers, who were, perhaps unintentionally, stealing her heart from you. She had already started down the road to becoming peer-dependent. But now, she is preferring being with you, being with her little brother, and being alone. I think that’s really healthy.

Many people worry that this will make children unable to relate to others. In fact, it makes them less intimidated by others’ acceptance/rejection of them. She will be less likely to be pressured into conformity with the world (Rom. 12:1-2). And as you spend time with her, her emotional focus is turning to you. God is “turning the hearts of the children to the fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to their children” (Mal. 4:6). Ultimately this will make it easier for Grace to give her heart to you (Prov. 23:26) in preparation for fully yielding and trusting her heart to the Lord.

Comments open below

QUOTING QUIVERFULL is a regular feature of NLQ – we present the actual words of noted Quiverfull leaders and ask our readers: What do you think? Agree? Disagree? This is the place to state your opinion. Please, let’s keep it respectful – but at the same time, we encourage readers to examine the ideas of Quiverfull honestly and thoughtfully.